London Mayor Sadiq Khan said knife crimes have increased in the city because of people snatching cellphones. “Now we know 20, 30 years ago car manufacturers managed to reduce the theft of car stereos, reduce the thefts of the TomToms from cars by designing away the possibility of doing so,” said Khan in an interview on Sky News UK..Sky News UK anchor Mark Austin interrupted Khan by saying he was talking about the use of knives rather than cellphones. “It’s the use of knives in these attacks that I’m talking about, and the use of knives in such attacks is up more than a third,” said Austin. With these attacks, Khan said more are happening because robbers are trying to take phones. If people can make secondhand phones useless to robbers and thieves, he said the temptation to take them goes away. Since enforcement is important, he said police are using data to ensure it has officers targeting hotspots. He added he would be working with phone manufacturers and platforms to ensure there is no resale value. “The good news: In those parts of London where previously there were hotspots and robbery hotspots by using data from policing but also working with returns, we’ve seen a reduction in those parts of London,” he said. “What we need is not just more police officers but working with phone companies to make sure there is no secondhand value of a phone being stolen.” Austin acknowledged gun crimes have gone up by more than 6% across London. “I know the celebration’s tonight, but these are very serious issues: knife crime and gun crime in the capital city of this country,” he said.
